time. The field should be worked in small lands, going |™** or 



around each land, and always lapping the harrow one- 



half, so that the surface may be kept level. I05 



If there are any deep holes in the field, resulting 

 from the removal of boulders or other cause, they should 

 be filled in at the time of the first harrowing, and if 

 there are any surface ditches they should be made 

 shallow with gradually sloping sides, wherever possible, 

 so that the entire surface of the field can be gone over 

 with a mowing machine in any direction when the hay 

 crop is to be harvested. 



The difference in the expense of preparing a field 

 right, or only partially so, is very slight, when consider- 

 ing possible breakage of machinery when harvesting the 

 crops of several years, figured on the basis of low 

 cost per ton of product, and this factor is of double im- 

 portance in the preparation of land on which it is 

 possible to harvest two crops each season. 



Liming. 



It is known that timothy cannot thrive and yield 

 maximum crops in a sour soil, while red-top seems to 

 delight in such soil, and one of the surest indications that 

 a soil is sour is when we find the timothy meadow run 

 out after two or three years and the ground occupied 

 by red-top. The presence of sorrel, five-finger, 

 mosses, daisies and mulleins are also indications of a 

 sour soil, and timothy cannot be made to do its best on 

 those soils until they are made sweet. The quickest and 

 most practical way to accomplish this is by the liberal 

 application of lime in some form. This may be applied 

 in the form of stonelime, either ground or unground, or 

 air-slaked; or in connection with potash in wood ashes. 

 The amount of lime to apply should be generally about 

 one-half ton per acre. 



If we use lime in the form of ashes or ground stone- 

 lime, it can be drilled into the soil at the right depth 

 with a fertilizer drill, but if we use air-slaked lime or 

 lump lime and slake it in the field, it should be spread 

 either before plowing or immediately after the first 

 harrowing and before the ground is rolled, so that the 



